Arch building construction



. Feb. 25, 1936.

Filed D80. 14, 1931 Patented F b. 25, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEARCH BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Louis Davidson, Hewlett, N. Y.

Application December 14, 1931, Serial No. 580,927

7 Claims. (Cl. 108--23) The present invention relates to long span archbuilding constructions and aims to provide certain improvements therein.

An object of my present invention is to pro.- vide long span archbuilding constructions especially adapted for use as auditoriums,natatoriums, arenas, airplane hangars, garages, etc., where columns,supporting posts and other obstructions are practically eliminated fromthe interior so as to provide a maximum of unobstructed floor area.Another object of the invention is to construct such buildings havingarches of from thirty to one hundred and fifty feet spans in a simple,practicable and economical manner, and wherein the skeleton frame of thebuilding may be made of either timber or steel, or a combination ofboth, depending upon which is cheaper or more readily available in thelocality where the structure is to be erected. Still another object ofthe invention is to provide a building construction of the typedescribed, wherein the roof-supporting structure may be composed of alarge number of arch members or may be of a sort of lattice-likeconstruction known as the lamella form. A still further object of theinvention is to provide a building of the type described whereinadequate head room will be provided at the spring line of the arches forthe erection of a reviewing stand, and also for a balcony if desired.

The present invention is an improvement upon my application, Serial No.315,408, filed October 27, 1928, in that the present construction makespracticable the use of short small section timbers or short steellengths for long arch roof spans without the customary exposed tie-rodsand without the objectionable bents, buttresses or heavy walls oftenemployed to take the place of tierods. The most economical constructionfor these light, closely spaced arches is to bring them down to thefloor (spring line), but because of the seat interference or spacerequired at the floor, most of the segments at the floor or in proximitythereto are omitted.

According'to my present invention I provide a practicable means foromitting these segments in proximity to the floor and at the seats, andat the same time, the few remaining terminal segments, which are usuallymade stronger, can

. be connected into the light roof arches and the concentrated loadingof the terminal segments distributed into many of the light archeswithout locally overstraining them. This invention can also be used withwhat is known as the lamella type of roof construction.

The various objects of my invention and other objects not specificallyenumerated, I accomplish in a simple, practical and economical manner,as will be apparent from a detailed description which follows, whenconsidered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing showing severalembodiments of my invention, and wherein Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 showfractional transverse sections of buildings employing various forms ofmy arch constructions.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are plan sections taken along the lines 5-5, 6-6 and1--'! of Figs. 1, 3 and 2, respectively.

Figs. 8 and 9 are sections taken substantially along the planes of thelines 8-8 and 9-9 of Figs. 2 and 4, respectively.

Fig. 10 is a view corresponding to Figs. 5, 6 and 7, showing theinvention applied to an arch construction of the lamella type.

Fig. 11 is a detail fractional transverse section H of the inventionwhen applied to the lamella type of roof construction shown in Fig. 10.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 5' of the drawing, let A indicate aretaining and enclosing wall supported on a suitable foundation B, and Cthe floor of the building. Within the wall A and extending upwardly fromthe fioor C at the foundation B are a plurality of long span arches Dcomposed of segments E, F and G, which are suitably connected togetherin a manner such as to transmit the strains of the arch through theconnecting means, and the terminal segments G of the arches havingportions g extending beyond the curvature of the arch, for a purposewhich will presently be made apparent. The arches D have their springline at substantially the level of the floor of the building, and saidends are connected together beneath the surface of the floor by suitabletie-rods H or other usual means to resist the outward thrust of thearch. Between the arches D are long span arches which are composed ofsegments E and F which terminate and have their ends disposedsubstantially above the floor line. Preferably the arches with theterminal segments G are more widely spaced apart than those archescomposed of the segments E and F, and in practice said spacings may bein the ratio of one to about ten. All the arches are disposed inparallel or lattice relation and are connected together in any suitableor approved manner, such, for ex- 0 ample, by girders I, J and K whichextend at right angles to the arches. For the purpose of receiving theload and strains of the roof-supporting segments of the archconstructions and distributing them to the terminal arch segments whichill are more widely spaced apart than the roof-supporting segments, Iprovide the tie or primary arch sub-segments L which are supported inpart by the roof-supporting arch structure and in part by the terminalsegments G, and are connected to the ends of the latter which extendbeyond the curvature of the arch, as indicated at l, in any suitablemanner, such, for example, by bolting, riveting, welding or the like.Sub-segments (L) is a term I employ to designate members when joinedtogether for permitting the roof of the building to be continued and tobe built away and outwardly from the arches proper. The ties or archsubsegments L may be either closely spaced apart or widely spaced apart,as desired, and in Fig. 5 I have shown said segments as correspondinglyspaced with the segments E. To deliver the thrusts of all the closelyspaced arch segments E into the greatly spaced terminal arch segments G,I rely upon the girders K, and instead of making said girders large, Iprovide a truss in the plane of the segments F with the girder Kbecoming one chord of the truss and the girder J the other chord, withrods and turn-buckles l' disposed as shown in Fig. 5. The segments F,which are sub tended by the arch sub-segments L and the portion 9 of theterminal arch segments G, may likewise be either closely or widelyspaced apart, as desired, depending upon the strains to be borne by saidcomponents of the arch construction and whether or not the-building isto be provided with a balcony, it being apparent that if such balcony isprovided, the sections F will be widely Spaced apart so as not tointerfere with the seating arrangements thereof. A secondary archsub-segment may be provided between the terminal arch segments G and theenclosing wall A, as shown at M, said arch sub-segment being supportedat one end by the wall A, and at its other end either upon the archsegments G or upon the girder K which connects the segments G. Ifdesired, there may be erected within the building and extending from thewall A to a point inwardly therefrom onto or in proximity to the floorC, a suitable reviewing stand N supported in any desired manner, andpreferably in part by a girder g connecting the arch segments G. It willbe apparent that sufficient head room will be provided between the topof the stand N and the arch subsegments M and L, and if desired ordeemed necessary, a balcony may be extended outwardly over the stand Nand supported by the arches. The arch building construction may besuitably ornamented on the exterior and provision made for the access oflight and air to the interior of the building, such, for example, by thewindows a in the wall A and a in a secondary wall A, which extendsbetween the secondary arch segments M and the primary arch segments L.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 7 of the drawing, it will be noted that thearch construction is substantially the same as that disclosed in Fig. 1excepting with regard to the character of the roof arch segments E andthe manner in which the arch segment F, which is subtended by the archsub-segment L and the portion 9 of the terminal segment G, is secured tothe latter. The roof arch segments E are preferably formed of lumber andare connected to the girders I, which are likewise made-of lumber, inany desired manner, and preferably as shown and described in mycopending application, Serial No. 315,408, filed October 27, 1928. Thearch segment F is secured at one end to the I-beam girder J, and at itsother end is secured to the terminal segment G through the medium or a Tconnection 0, the upright top arch sub-segments L, which are in partsupported by the arch proper. To deliver the thrusts of all the closelyspaced arch segments E into the greater spaced terminal arch segments Fthe girders J are relied upon, and in order that said girders may not bemade too large I provide a truss in the plane of the segments E with thegirder J becoming one chord of the truss and the sub-segment L the otherchord, with tie-rods and turnbuckles l disposedas shown in Fig. 6. Rodsand turnbuckles Z are relied upon as additional sway rods for stifieningpurposes. In said Fig. 3 the sub-segment L is provided with purlins Zfor supporting the roof elements, and a wall A extends adjacent to thesupport portion p. In this construction the arch segments F areconnected directly to the support P by suitable bolts, rivets orwelding, as shown at 12 and the horizontal thrust of the arch isresisted by tie-rods H,

and dead weights P connected to the supports P by girders P In otherrespects the arch building construction shown in Fig. 3 is similar tothat disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2.

In Fig. 4 the arch construction therein disclosed is substantiallyidentical with that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, excepting that the wall A isdisposed in abutting relation to the portion 57 of the terminal segmentG, and the arch segment F is directly connected at one end of the archsub-segment L i and at its other end to the terminal segment G. In thisconstruction it will be noted that the segment F is composed of twochannel members f one disposed on each side of the segments G and L andsecured to the segment G in an ordinary manner with rivets or bolts, andplates and angles. The member F is further reinforced by having itssegments I connected together by tie-cleats F. It will be understoodthat the construction of Fig. 8 is also applicable to the constructionsshown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

In Figs. 10 and 11 I.have.shown an adaptation of the invention to archbuilding constructions wherein the roof-supporting construction of thearch is of lattice-like form or of the lamella type, and comprises areticulated framework R comprising segments or lamella r disposedangularly with relation to one another, the ends or two substantiallyaligned lamellae engaging another segment which extends at an anglethereto at substantially its middle point. Suitable nailing strips Sextending transversely of the curvature of the arch are usually employedwith this type of construc ion for providing suitable securing means forthe roofing boards. Instead 01 this type of roof-supporting structurebeing supported at the spring line of the arch upon buttresses,retaining walls or the like, I propose to connect said lamellas extremeends upon a suitable girder or beam K, which, in turn, is connected tothe widely spaced arch segments G in a manner similar tothe-constructions above described and comprising an arch sub-segment Lfor receiving the load and distributing the strains upon the lamellaforming roof arches and for distributing said loads to the terminalsegments or supports of said arch construction. For supporting thesub-segment L upon the lamella roof construction I employ wooden beamsor girders J.

While I have shown and described several embodiments of my invention andthe manner in which the same can be carried out, I do not wish to belimited to the details of construction disclosed, since it will beapparent to a worker skilled in the art that the details of constructionmay be varied within the range of engineering skill without departingfrom the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A building construction having a plurality of long span arches, saidarches being divisible into two groups, one group having its endsterminating above the floor line and spaced relatively close together,and the other group having its ends at substantially the floor level andspaced relatively far apart, the terminal segments of many arches oi thesecond group of arches having portions rigidly connected therewithextending beyond the curvature of the arch, and arch sub-segmentsconnecting certain of the arches to the extending portions of theterminal segments of the second group of arches outwardly of the arch sothat accumulated stresses in said terminal segments will be distributedback into the arches proper.

2. A building construction according to claim 1, characterized in thatit has secondary arch sub-segments connecting certain'of the arches tosupports outwardly of the arches.

3. A building construction according to claim 1, characterized in thatit has secondary arch sub-segments connecting certain of the arches tosupports extending upwardly from the spring line of the second group ofarches outwardly oi the arches.

4. A building having an arched roof construction, comprising a pluralityof long span arches, supporting means for said roof construction formingpart of certain of the long span arches proper, and arch sub-segmentssupported in part by the supporting means and in part by the arched roofconstruction, the arch sub-segments being connected together bytruss-like constructions.

5. A building having an arched roof construction, comprising a pluralityof long span arches, supporting means for said roof construction formingpart of certain of the long span arches proper, and arch sub-segmentssupported in part by the supporting means and in part by the arched rootconstruction, the arch sub-segments being connected together bytruss-like constructions and that portion of the arch roof constructionadjacent to said sub-segment sections being also of truss-likeconstruction.

6. A building construction having a plurality of long span arches someof which are supported at about the floor level, and others of which areshorter and terminate above the floor level, means connecting the firstgroup of arches and to which means the ends of the second group ofarches are connected, the first group of arches having terminalsegments, the tops of which extend upwardly above the ends of theshorter arches, and

means connecting the upwardly-extending ends of the terminal segments ofthe first group of arches to the arches proper to form triangularbraces.

'1. An arched roof building construction having a plurality of long spanarches, a minor number of which are supported at about the door leveland the major number of which are somewhat shorter and terminate abovethe floor level, girders (K) extending transversely to the planes of thearches cgnnecting the longer arches together and supporting the ends ofthe shorter arches, the longer arches having straight terminal segments(G) or P, the tops of which extend upwardly beyond the arches, and meansconnecting the tops of said terminal segments with the arches above thegirders and forming triangular braces below the rooi.

LOUIS DAVIDSON.

